Woven fabrics are commonly used for garments, including, for example, patient/isolation gowns, lab coats, chef-cook coats/shirts/pants, work shirts/pants/vests, robes, and aprons, and sheets, towels, pillow cases, blankets, and other related items. Traditionally, the fabrics for garments are often woven with a natural fiber, such as cotton or silk. For institutional use, namely with linens, plain woven sheeting materials often comprise a blend of natural materials and synthetic materials. More particularly, woven sheeting made specifically for industrial use often comprises equal quantities of natural and synthetic materials or, more often, considerably more synthetic materials than natural materials.
Regarding sheeting, institutions including, but not limited to, hospitals, prisons, rest homes, nursing homes, and hotels require woven sheeting materials that provide comfort and durability. Although the comfort of woven sheeting materials may be somewhat subjective, the comfort of cotton sheeting is commonly preferred by the industry. Additionally, cotton sheeting has adequate absorbency characteristics that leave one's skin dry during use. The comfort and absorbency of cotton sheeting is important in institutional use such as hospitals, because the comfort of the sheeting contributes to the positive outlook of the patient, while the absorbency of the sheeting minimizes the occurrence of infections. Unfortunately, cotton sheeting has a relatively short period of acceptable use. The life expectancy of woven sheeting is primarily related to the number of times the sheeting is laundered and/or ironed. Many institutions change woven sheeting materials daily and other institutions may change sheeting materials multiple times a day. Consequently, most sheeting materials used in institutions receive more wear and tear during laundering and ironing than during typical bed use.
Durability typically refers to the sheeting material's resistance to degradation, including that which occurs during laundering and ironing. The durability of woven sheeting materials relates directly to the institution's overall cost of the sheeting materials. Generally, the total cost of sheeting materials equals the purchase price, plus the costs of laundering and ironing, divided by the number of times the sheeting materials may be used. In the industry, a laundry cycle comprises washing, drying, ironing (if necessary), and steam sterilization (if necessary) of the woven sheeting material. Accordingly, the greater the number of laundry cycles that a woven sheeting material can endure, the less the overall cost to the institution.
To increase the durability of woven sheeting materials, while maintaining the comfort attributable to cotton sheeting, institutions utilize sheeting materials comprising a blend of natural and synthetic fibers (i.e., cotton and polyester). The use of synthetic resin yarns, such as polyester, has greatly increased the durability of sheeting materials. Polyester comprises durability characteristics suitable for institutional use in which sheeting materials require frequent laundering and sterilization. Not only does polyester provide greater durability than cotton, but polyester also requires less laundering time, because it dries more quickly (“quick-drying”) and often does not require ironing. Compared to 100% cotton sheets, 50% polyester and 50% cotton sheets generally require 25-30% less drying energy during laundering and have a life expectancy of almost twice that of 100% cotton sheets (e.g., 50-60 laundry cycles for 100% cotton sheets compared to 90-110 laundry cycles for 50% cotton and 50% polyester sheets). Cotton sheets, on the other hand, absorb stains within the natural fiber and, therefore, present problems for laundering. Consequently, even sheets of 50% cotton and 50% polyester have limited life spans, because the use of large, commercial washers damages the natural fibers. Furthermore, the use of cotton within the sheeting material becomes problematic, because the cotton fibers typically absorb stains and, therefore, require longer wash cycles for the removal of the stains. Another major problem with the use of cotton fibers arises from the use of large, commercial dryers for drying the washed sheets. The large dryers produce extreme centrifugal forces for removing the water which is absorbed in the cotton fibers during the wash cycle. Accordingly, the presence of cotton and its propensity for absorbing stains and water greatly increases the washing and drying times, which translates into added costs for institutions. Additionally, during the washing and drying cycles, cotton fibers are greatly weakened, resulting in a reduction in the total life span of the sheet.
Polyester is generally produced from molten polymer after a filtration process to remove any impurities. The molten polymer may be spun directly, or it may be extruded, cooled and cut into small pellets or chips, which can be stored for later extrusion. The extrusion process involves metering molten polymer through a spinneret to create filaments that solidify in cooling air. The filaments must be drawn to orient the polymer and develop the fiber properties of the filament. For example, the fiber may be completely drawn after extrusion, or it may be partially drawn to form partially oriented yarn (POY). The yarns, therefore, may be textured at a later processing step. One procedure for producing polyester produces yarns formed by an extrusion process that produces filaments of extremely small cross sections (similar to the size of cotton fibers). These continuous filaments may be joined with, or without, a minimal twist to form a yarn of any given denier. Another procedure involves a further step of crimping the yarn to create a textured yarn assuming a non-linear configuration. Polyester yarns may be spun into different cross-sectional shapes including, but not limited to, round, trilobal, t-shape, and pentalobal. The polyester yarns produced from the extrusion process may then be plied with a natural yarn (such as cotton) to produce a blended yarn to be used in creating the woven sheeting material. Many other fabric constructions exist that incorporate various combinations of polyester and cotton yarns. Instead of plying the yarns together, the polyester and cotton yarns may be used as both warp and weft yarns within a woven sheeting material. While there may exist multiple combinations and permutations of natural and synthetic yarns, only a very limited number of yarn constructions will satisfy the demands made by institutions for durability and comfort.
Although the use of different sized fibers of polyester may be used to create a more comfortable sheeting material, producers of woven sheeting materials do not generate 100% polyester sheeting for institutional use, because, unlike cotton yarns, polyester yarns do not have adequate absorbency characteristics. Currently, materials comprising 100% polyester are generally non-woven and do not properly “breathe,” resulting in a pool of sweat when used by an individual in an institutional setting. Thus, 100% polyester materials are solely used for tablecloths and the like.
Examples of woven sheeting materials or woven fabric materials are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,670,326, 4,724,183, and 5,495,874 to Heiman. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,670,326 and 4,724,183, Heiman discloses a woven sheeting material with warps and wefts yarns, wherein each of the warps is made of a blend of a natural material, such as cotton, and a synthetic material, such as polyester, and each of the wefts are made entirely of natural materials, such as cotton. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,874, Heiman discloses a woven fabric sheeting that comprises of cotton warp yarns and continuous filament, texturized, polyester filling yarns. While satisfying its intended purpose, the woven sheeting materials and woven fabric materials disclosed by Heiman have significant disadvantages, because of the use of natural materials (e.g., cotton). Such woven sheeting materials possess a shorter life expectancy, because natural materials absorb stains and, therefore, require longer washing and drying cycles during laundering. Extended laundering weakens the natural materials in the woven sheeting material, thus, requiring institutions to replace the sheeting material more frequently. Consequently, the use of woven sheeting material with natural materials increases costs for institutions requiring frequent laundering. These increase costs include more energy and time for laundering, as well as replacement costs.
There is, therefore, a need in the industry for a woven garment material that is durable and, therefore, maximizes the number of laundry cycles during the lifetime of the garment material and, thus, reduces overall replacement costs.
Also, there is a need in the industry for a woven garment material that is comfortable and, therefore, possesses an adequate absorbency rate to ensure breathability.
Additionally, there is a need in the industry for a woven garment material that reduces the amount of laundering time and ironing and, therefore, has a lower total cost than currently used woven garment materials.
There is also, therefore, a need in the industry for a woven sheeting material that is durable and, therefore, maximizes the number of laundry cycles during the lifetime of the sheeting material and, thus, reduces overall replacement costs.
Also, there is a need in the industry for a woven sheeting material that is comfortable and, therefore, possesses an adequate absorbency rate to ensure breathability.
Additionally, there is a need in the industry for a woven sheeting material that reduces the amount of laundering time and ironing and, therefore, has a lower total cost than currently used woven sheeting materials.